Clinical Services

The Estia Centre is closely linked to clinical services for people
with learning disabilities that are provided by the South London and
Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. These services include the Specialist Community
Mental Health Learning Disabilities Team, Specialist Psychology Service
and the Neurodevelopmental Disorders Service.

The Specialist Community Mental Health in Learning Disabilities Service (MHiLD)

The MHLD Service consists of psychiatrists and community psychiatric nurses
and provides services across Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark. We provide psychiatry services
in Croydon. The service works closely with the local Community Teams for Adults with Learning Disabilities (CLDT),
Social Services and local mental health services. The team provides two distinct
but intertwined functions; clinical and service related.

On a clinical level the service offers highly specialised assessment, advice,
treatment and prevention of mental health problems. Intervenions may be home or
outpatient based, depending on the needs of the individual. The MHLD Service uses
all the facilities of mainstream mental health services, including acute and medium
stay in-patient beds, and a variety of community resources.

On a service level advice, consultation and support is offered to other clinical
services, such as mainstream community and inpatient services and organisations that
provide direct support to service users. Training is often delivered in collaboration
the Estia Centre, focusing on educating carers and support staff about the mental health
needs of the person.

Specialist Psychology Service

The Specialist Psychology Service consists of Clinical Psychologists, Assistant Psychologists,
Behavioural Support Specialists and Counsellors working as part of the Community Teams for Adults with
Learning Disabilities in Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark.

The main aim of the service is to work with its partners in ensuring that people with learning
disabilities experience a good quality of life. This is achieved by working closely with service
users directly and/or with parents, partners, carers or support staff. The service offers a variety
of therapies such as cognitive behaviour therapy, counselling and positive behavioural interventions.
The service offers a variety of training initiatives through the Estia Centre and tailored made packages
for individual service users.

Other areas that the service has been focusing on is supporting people with learning disabilities in
making decisions for themselves and ensuring that the rights of individuals who cannot give consent are upheld.
The team also audits the implementation of good practice in services for people whose behaviour is
challenging and is developing ways of enhancing user involvemnent in service and strategy development.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders Service

Our service is for people with mild, moderate or borderline learning disabilities and mental health problems, some of whom may have a forensic history. Many people meet the criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A minority of our patients who are admitted have acute mental health problems in the context of learning disabilities.
Our service offers flexible care pathways for people who require either an open or low-secure environment. We offer both step-down and step-up support, as required, on the unit.
We aim to discharge patients to less restrictive placements, where higher levels of independence are possible and to reduce the need for more expensive placement options.
We have an excellent record in the reduction of challenging behaviours including severe self-harm, fire setting, sexual offending and assaults on others.
We have a very good record for short-term learning disabilities assessments in an acute environment. These short-term assessments support strong placement identification and reduce placement breakdown.

People who are referred to us

1. Undergo an assessment for co-morbid mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, personality disorder and contributory physical health morbidity
2. Participate in a therapeutic environment with continuity and consistency of care
3. Receive a formulation of challenging or significant risk behaviour
4. Receive specialised treatments in connection with offences
5. Receive evidence-based psychiatric, psychological and occupational therapies
6. Learn skills for self-care and daily living
7. Experience care that focuses on recovery and social inclusion
8. Reduce the long-term need for restricted, expensive community placement
9. Experience care that focuses on recovery and social inclusion
10. Benefit from a care pathway model that ensures regular contact with local services, carers and commissioners, and delivers optimal lengths of stay and discharge planning